It became Rhodesia because Northern Rhodesia was granted independence and became Zambia. Since there was no longer a Northern Rhodesia to the North, it made no sense to call the country Southern Rhodesia anymore.

As for the Rozwi Empire I can't imagine how he/she can deny what those Zanu dogs have done to the country. 99.9999999% of the people murdered, butchered, raped, tortured, disposessed, robbed, stripped of citizenship, forced into exile, dehumanised, demonised and bombarded with propaganda have all been BLACK not white. No amount of hiding behind anti-western anti-colonial conspiracy theory rhetoric will change this fact.

Godwin's book is a true testament to the awful and continuous ransacking Mugabe and his gangsters instill in this beautiful nation. And Roy Bennett has been an essential figure of opposition to the injustices this regime continues to propagate. I urge you to review an online petition in support of this honorable man by going to thepetitionsite.com/263/justice-for-Roy-Bennett/
If you agree with what the petitioners express, please sign and help disseminate. Signatures can be anonymous. Thank you all profoundly.

Geordeipa - i am afraid you have missed the point. No one denies Zimbabwe's situation is terrible, and Zimbabweans have suffered tremendously. For sure the Unity government is very frail, and the continuing severe economic and political problems, mean that with failing healthcare , striking staff and the threat of resurgent cholera, aside from the swine flu you mention, and a whole host of other serious issues, things are not yet looking any brighter. The worst is still the threat of a new wave of violence akin to the almost unprecedented period of April -June 2008, if elections are indeed held next year. But books and intellectual and cultural production do matter in very complex ways. There are very 'real Zimbabweans' living not only in 'the bush', but in townships, on the streets, in locations, on resettled farms and communal areas, and in various very difficult circumstances in the 'Diaspora' in south africa, and further abroad. All of these different, difficult lives matter a great deal, and it is exactly writers like Brian Chikwava and Petina Gappah (and perhaps also Godwin) who tap into, observe and write with humour and erudition about these complex 'real' lives. And in so doing they contribute to the larger goal of constituting Zimbabwe and Zimbabweans outside of and against the grain ZANU PF's efforts to create a narrower Zimbabwe that suits only them. Zimbabwe's difficulties and the suffering of Zimbabwean peoples means these kinds of books are more important than ever. Or does political and economic hardship of the worst kind also mean people are no longer allowed to take part in intellectual life through literary and other forms of cultural production? Furthermore, what would the world's greatest and diverse genres of music, art and literature be like if everyone who lived during deeply austere, violent and socially difficult times, were somehow prevented by their suffering from being allowed to take part? Deeply impoverished i think. Your view would suggest that Zimbabweans should be further disempowered - i could'nt disagree more.

its a shame the reviewer here does'nt even mention the very best of recent Zimbabwean writing, which is not Godwin or other semi-biographical writers of that ilk, but genuinely creative novelists such as Brian Chikwava and his recent book Harare North, and Petina Gappah's Elergy for Easterly. These books have both won very important literary awards and don't just ride on the back of Zimbabwe's place in international news columns. They herald from a long and rich line of Zimbabwean authors stretching from Chenjerai Hove, Ivonne Vera, to Dambudzo Marechera and Charles Mungoshi. It is in this tradition and these great authors that the best of Zimbabwean writing lies.

I've learned not to expect too much from the Economist, but an overview of recent Zimbabwean fiction which mentions only white authors - and which prefers Alexandra Fuller's overwrought rubbish to Pettina Gappah's gentle, perceptive humour - must count as a new low.

This book is filled with lies, which wants to achieve the agenda of Western colonial.
And reached the audacity of the author to defend the criminal Bennett and described him as a hero in spite of all his bloody history.

Hey guys.......
Sorry but while you,re fiddling on about some books..... The actual country is dying in your face....how long can Africa
And the so called civilized world continue to turn a blind eye while dear old uncle Bob and his cronies
Rape and pillage dear old Zimbabwe ?
Stop press : as we speak there is another outbreak of
Swine flu in Matabeleland..... And the health workers are on strike..... Because they have' nt been
Paid for months.......... So stop fretting over some books ( great thought they are ..... And start
Being concerned About the real, living ( I hope) people out there in the bush ! ! !

The reason that so much literature has sprung up about Zimbabwe is, in part, due to the fact that the current crisis defies the hope and optimism fed by the progressive attitude of the same regime since Independence. The nostalgia shared by all those who knew that paradise struggle to deal with the hell that it has become now. The nation that showed so much promise for prosperity and racial harmony under a benevolent Robert Mugabe now burns in flames to serve the ideology he dogmatically sticks to. Out of touch with the reality of the lives of their people, the ruling elite now hold onto power at all costs. They seek to exonerate themselves by continually playing the anti-imperialist mantra of the 1980s without providing a vision for the future to a people begging for any chance of a better life.

A painful disappointment in a country bursting with potential. We share our hopes and aspirations for a Great Zimbabwe and will continue to express their dreams and frustrations through the arts. Zimbabweans can once again regain their stolen voices through poetry, painting, music and literature. No one will take away our dreams to lift our motherland to glory, prosperity, justice and democracy.